Mohamed Sahnoun Robin Wright, Robin Wright, who covers global issues for the Times, spent seven years in Africa. She traveled frequently to Zaire and covered the 1977 and 1978 wars in Shaba province

Charter Reform No Panacea for What Ails Los Angeles Edmund D. Edelman and Steven P. Erie, Edmund D. Edelman, a former city councilman and county supervisor, is a member of the appointed Charter Reform Commission, a Rand senior fellow and arbitrator/mediator. Steven P. Erie, a UC San Diego political scientist, is completing "Global Los Angeles: Growth and Crisis of a Developmental City-State" (Stanford University Press)

Stocks Can't Make Up for Low Savings Rates Walter Russell Mead, Walter Russell Mead, a contributing editor to Opinion, is a presidential fellow at the World Policy Institute. He is the author of "Mortal Splendor: The American Empire in Transition" (Houghton Mifflin) and is writing a book about U.S. foreign policy

The Fat Cat Tax Cut Kevin Phillips, Kevin Phillips, publisher of America Political Report, is author of "The Politics of Rich and Poor." His most recent Book is "Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street and Frustrations of American Politics" (Little Brown)

She Was Both Steel and Velvet ADAM URBANSKI, Adam Urbanski is president of the Rochester (N.Y.) Teachers Assn. and a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers. He knew Helen Bernstein for 10 years

How Do You Beat a Phantom? Joe Domanick, Joe Domanick, author of "To Protect and to Serve: LAPD's Century of War in the City of Dreams" (Pocket Books), is working on a book about the "three strikes" law and the California criminal-justice system

New Focus on Military Might Charles Wolf Jr., Charles Wolf Jr. is dean of the Rand Graduate School of Policy Studies and a corporate fellow in international economics at Rand. Research by K. C. Yeh contributed to this article

On the Rocks VANI RANGACHAR, TIMES STAFF WRITER; Rangachar is the Travel section's news/graphics editor

Old California, Missions and Murals C. M. MAYO, Mayo is the author of "Sky Over El Nido" (University of Georgia Press), a short story collection set largely in Mexico, which won the Flannery O'Connor Prize